Repentant People are Baptized in Water and in Spirit to become the Kingdom People

The meaning of baptism is that repentant people are baptized in water outwardly and in Spirit inwardly so that they may become kingdom people.

Through baptism we as repentant people are brought out of our old state into a new one, for our old life is terminated and we’re germinated with the new life of Christ; furthermore, we are brought into an organic union with the Lord to enjoy Him as the all-inclusive Spirit as the blessing of the gospel. Praise the Lord for baptism!

As believers in Christ, we were regenerated by God with His life to be part of the kingdom of God, and we are now citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

Christ is our heavenly King, we submit to Him, we love Him, and we take Him as our Lord and as our life.

Day by day we are under His throne, having an inward submission to His authority.

And we are charged by Him, as Matt. 28:18-19 says, to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord!

We all as genuine Christians, those who believe into the Lord Jesus and have Him as our life and everything, are commissioned by the Lord to go and disciple all the nations, having His authority.

We need to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of Man was given all authority in heaven and on earth at the time of His resurrection, and we are one with Him.

He is our Head and our life, and He is our King and also our life supply.

We are joined to Him in spirit, and we go in His name and with His authority.

We are being discipled by the Lord so that, as the Lord’s disciples, we may be commissioned by Him to go in His name and with His authority to make the nations into disciples of Christ.

What the Lord is looking for is all nations to be discipled by being baptized into the Triune God.

Just as the disciples of the Lord Jesus spent time with Him and learned from Him simply by being with Him, for the Lord discipled each one of them and also together, so today we need to be with the Lord and be discipled by Him.

We need to be discipled by the Lord’s incarnation, His perfect human living, His life of obedience to the Father, His love for man, His death on the cross, His resurrection, and His ascension.

When we read and pray over the word of God, we internalize what the Lord is, we allow Him to disciple us inwardly, and we as His disciples can go in His name with His authority to disciple all the nations.

These days the Lord has a particular move toward France and in France; we go there not just to preach the gospel and help people get saved but even more, to make the French people disciples of Christ by baptizing them into the Triune God!

Repentant people are baptized in water and in Spirit to become the kingdom people!

Baptism Terminates Repentant People and Germinates them with Christ’s life to make them Kingdom People

In Acts 2:38 the apostles told those who believed in the word of the gospel that they needed to repent and each one of them be baptized upon the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and they will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Through baptism, the repentant people are brought out of their old state into a new one, for their old life is terminated and they are germinated with the new life of Christ so that they become kingdom people.

The Lord commissioned His disciples to go and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19).

We are to go and not just preach the gospel but even more, disciple the nations by baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We disciple the nations by baptizing them into God.

When John the Baptist came and baptized people in his recommending ministry, that was a baptism by water only.

But the Lord Jesus came and, after passing through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit, He charged His disciples to baptize the discipled people into the Triune God.

On the one hand, we need to preach the gospel of the kingdom so that others may believe into the Lord Jesus and be saved.

On the other hand, those who repent and are saved need to be put into the waters of baptism so that they may become kingdom people.

In Christianity nowadays baptism seems to be a formality or procedure to introduce a new member to the church or add them to that religious organization.

But this is not what baptism means.

The matter of baptism and baptizing people needs to be recovered and properly applied.

In order to disciple the nations, we need to baptize them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We don’t baptize people into an organization or into some membership to a religious entity but we baptize people into a living person, the wonderful person of the Lord Jesus!

Outwardly, the repentant people are put into the waters of baptism; inwardly, the reality of baptism is that they are terminated in their old life and they are germinated with the new life of Christ to become kingdom people receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and living in newness of life.

Baptism should never be treated just as a procedure; we should not take the matter of baptism lightly or casually.

We are here putting people into the Triune God for their past to be terminated, their old life to be cut off, and for them to be germinated with the new life of Christ by calling on the name of the Lord to touch the reality of baptism and become kingdom people. Amen!

Baptism is not a requirement for salvation but it is an important step.

After someone believes, he needs to be baptized in order to be able to participate in God’s salvation in full.

Every time when someone is about to be baptized, we need to be full of conviction, full of the Spirit, and full of power to put this one into the water, fully realizing what baptism is and believing.

We put them into the water to put off what their old state of life was and bring them out into a new state of life, even for them to be germinated with God’s life as their old life is terminated.

May the Lord recover this among us and may many new ones be brought into the reality of their baptism as they are put into the water!

May we be full of faith as we baptize a new one so that we may help them exercise their spirit and be inwardly terminated in their old life and be germinated with the life of Christ for them to become kingdom people, citizens of the kingdom of God!

Lord Jesus, make us those who go in Your name with Your authority to disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! Hallelujah, we are commissioned to disciple the nations by baptizing them into God! Amen, Lord, may we be those who preach the gospel of the kingdom and bring the repentant people out of their old state into a new one by baptizing them! May many be terminated in their old life and germinated with the new life of Christ as they are baptized, calling on the name of the Lord! Amen, Lord, we are full of faith and filled in spirit as we put the repentant one into the waters of baptism, fully believing that this one has his old life terminated and he is germinated with the new life of Christ! Hallelujah for the reality of baptism in the spirit! May we be those who go, preach the gospel, and bring repentant people into the kingdom of God by baptizing them into the Triune God to make them kingdom people!

Baptism is being Baptized in Water Outwardly and in Spirit Inwardly for the Kingdom of the Heavens

Baptism has two aspects: outwardly baptism is to be put in the water, and inwardly, it is to be put into the Spirit and be filled with the Spirit.

We are baptized in water and in the Spirit.

The visible aspect of baptism is by water and the invisible aspect is by the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38, 41; 10:44-48).

The visible aspect is the expression and testimony of the invisible aspect; the invisible aspect is the reality of the visible aspect.

Baptism is one of the few outward things the Lord commanded us to do, but unless there’s the spiritual reality of baptism, it remains only something outward.

Both the visible and invisible aspects are needed. In Matt. 28:19 the Lord charged His disciples to baptize the repentant people for the kingdom of God.

Not long after this, He baptized them and the entire church in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13): on the day of Pentecost, the Jewish part was baptized (Acts 1:5; 2:4) and in the house of Cornelious the Gentile part was baptized (11:15-17).

Based on this, the disciples of Christ baptized the new coverts (2:38) not only into water but even more, into the death of Christ (Rom. 6:3-4), into Christ Himself (Gal. 3:27), into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), and into the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).

The visible aspect of baptism is the waters, signifying the waters of death; the water can be considered as a tomb in which the repentant people’s old history is ended.

When we are baptized, we are baptized into the death of Christ so that our old history and person are terminated, and we are baptized into Christ Himself so that we may rise with Him and live one spirit with Him in newness of life.

We are also baptized into the Body of Christ to become a member of the Body, organically joined to Christ the Head and our fellow believers as the fellow members of the Body.

On the negative side, we are terminated in our old life; on the positive side, we are germinated with a new life, the eternal life of the Triune God, to live in newness of life in and for the Body of Christ.

Baptism is being baptized in water outwardly and with the Spirit inwardly for the kingdom of the heavens.

The baptism ordained by the Lord baptizes people out of their life into the Body life for the kingdom of the heavens.

The repentant people are put into Christ, into the death of Christ, into the Body of Christ, and into the Triune God to be brought into an organic union with the Triune God.

We are not baptized in the Lord’s name but INTO the Lord’s name, indicating that we’re brought into an organic union with the Lord.

The same word “into” as in Matt. 28:19 is found in Rom. 6:3 and Gal. 3:27, indicating that we are brought into an organic union with the Lord by faith and baptism into Christ.

The same Greek word is used in Acts 8:16; 19:5, and 1 Cor. 1:13 and 15.

When we baptize someone, we immerse them into the Triune God, into all that God is, to make them one with God.

Outwardly, they are put into water; inwardly, they are filled with the Spirit.

At the time of our believing into Christ we were given the all-inclusive Spirit both inwardly for our life and outwardly for our power (Eph. 1:13; Gal. 3:2).

This Spirit is the all-inclusive blessing of God’s full gospel (Gal. 3:14) for us to enjoy all the riches of the Triune God (2 Cor. 13:14).

Through baptism, we are immersed in the Triune God to be brought into an organic union with Him, and our old life and history is terminated, for we are organically joined to the Lord to live in newness of life in spirit.

May we realize what really happened to us at the time of our baptism and may we help others also enter into the reality of their baptism.

May we be one with the Lord to go and disciple all the nations by baptizing them into the Triune God to bring them into an organic union with Him!

Amen, may we experience, enjoy, and express Christ as our heavenly King as we go with His authority and in His name to disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

As we go and disciple the nations, we bring them into an organic union with the Triune God to enjoy the Spirit as the all-inclusive blessing of the gospel. Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, unveil us to see the reality of baptism. May we realize that we were baptized into the death of Christ, into Christ Himself, into the Triune God, and into the Body of Christ! Hallelujah, outwardly we were put in the waters of baptism and inwardly we were baptized in the Spirit as the reality of all that God is! Praise the Lord, at the time of our baptism we were terminated in our old life and we were germinated with the new life of Christ to be a new creation in resurrection! Amen, Lord, we thank You for terminating our old life and germinating us with Your new life, the eternal life of the Triune God, for the Body of Christ! May we be one with You to go with Your authority to disciple all the nations into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! Amen, Lord, we want to bring the repentant people into an organic union with the Triune God as they are being baptized! May so many unbelievers hear the gospel, believe into the Lord, and be baptized into the Triune God to enjoy the all-inclusive Spirit as the reality of the blessing of God’s full gospel!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, 2nd ed., pp. 787-788, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 3, Discipling All the Nations by Baptizing Them into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Do I Need to Be Baptized to Be Saved? More via, Holding to Truth in love.
  – Baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, a portion from, The Basic Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee.
  – Entering into the Good Land – Crossing the River Jordan, via, Living to Him.
  – The baptism in the Spirit, a portion from, The One New Man, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – Do I Need to Get Baptized? More via, Bibles for America blog.
  – In this one Spirit the believers being baptized into one Body and being given to drink one Spirit, a portion from, One Body and One Spirit, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – Stay in the Death of Christ, Walk in Newness of Life, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Being filled inwardly and clothed outwardly with the Holy Spirit, a portion from, General Sketch of the New Testament in the Light of Christ and the Church, A – Part 1: The Gospels and the Acts, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee.
  – Baptized in One Spirit into One Body and into New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Lord, when by baptism we confess / Our oneness in Thy death, / Oh, by Thy mercy and Thy grace, / May Thou reveal its worth. / By baptism in Thy death we’re one / And buried too with Thee: / Thus we’re forever dead to sin / And from its bondage free. (Hymns #937 stanzas 1-2)
  – Already dead! And buried too! / With the old man I am through! / Already dead! And buried too! / With the old man I am through! / No longer I! No longer I! / Christ in me I’ll testify! / No longer I! No longer I! / Christ in me I’ll testify! (Hymns #938)
  – In death’s waters I am buried, / For with Christ my Savior, I have died; / Now the world cannot pursue me, / For its power here is nullified. / I with Christ have risen too, / Out of death with Him I walk and live; / Now the Spirit life supplies / And His strength exhaustless unto me doth give. (Hymns #936)